Touch display panel

ABSTRACT

A touch display panel having a display area and an operation area is provided. The touch display panel includes a first substrate, a first transparent electrode layer, a dielectric layer, a second electrode layer, a display medium, an active array device, and a second substrate sequentially disposed. The first substrate and the second substrate are disposed opposite to each other. The first transparent electrode layer includes a first display area pattern located in the display area and a first operation area pattern located in the operation area. The second transparent electrode layer includes a second display area pattern located in the display area and a second operation area pattern located in the operation area. The second display area pattern has a plurality of openings so as to expose a portion of the first display area pattern.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the priority benefit of Taiwan applicationserial no. 99111110, filed Apr. 9, 2010. The entirety of theabove-mentioned patent application is hereby incorporated by referenceherein and made a part of this specification.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The invention generally relates to a touch display panel, and moreparticularly, to a touch display panel having independent operationarea.

2. Description of Related Art

Input devices of the IT products have been changed from conventionalkeyboards and mice to touch panels so as to comply with requirements forconvenience, miniaturization, and being user-friendly. At present, thetouch panels can be generally classified into resistive, capacitive,infrared, and ultrasonic touch panels, wherein the resistive touchpanels and the capacitive touch panels are most common.

The integration of the touch panel with the display panel provideselectronic products both functions of image display and touch operation,and thus attracts great attention. In conventional fabrication process,the touch panel and the display panel are fabricated separately, and anadhering process is then performed to integrate the touch panel and thedisplay panel. However, the separate fabrications of the touch panel andthe display panel increase fabrication costs and the adhering processcomplicates the fabrication process of electronic products. Thus,techniques for simultaneously fabricating display panel and touch panelin the same fabrication step have been proposed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention is directed to a touch display panel without additionalprocess of touch sensing device.

The invention is directed to a touch display panel, wherein the displayhas a display area and an operation area located beside the displayarea. Specifically, the touch display panel includes a first substrate,a second substrate, a display medium, a first transparent electrodelayer, a second transparent electrode layer, a dielectric layer, and anactive array device. The second substrate and the first substrate aredisposed opposite to each other. The display medium is sandwichedbetween the first substrate and the second substrate and correspondingto the display area. The first transparent electrode layer is disposedon the first substrate. The first transparent electrode layer includes afirst display area pattern and a first operation area pattern, whereinthe first display area pattern is located in the display area and thefirst operation area pattern is located in the operation area. Thedielectric layer is disposed on the first transparent electrode layer.The second transparent electrode layer is disposed on the dielectriclayer and includes a second display area pattern and a second operationarea pattern. The second display area pattern is located in the displayarea and the second operation area pattern is located in the operationarea, wherein the second display area pattern has a plurality ofopenings so as to expose a portion of the first display area pattern.The active array device is disposed on the second substrate.

Accordingly, the display panel of the present invention has bothfunctions of image display and touch operation without additionalprocess of touch sensing device. In order to make the aforementioned andother features and advantages of the invention more comprehensible,embodiments accompanying figures are described in detail below.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings are included to provide a furtherunderstanding of the invention, and are incorporated in and constitute apart of this specification. The drawings illustrate embodiments of theinvention and, together with the description, serve to explain theprinciples of the invention.

FIGS. 1A and 1B illustrate schematic top views of two displays withtouch panels of the invention.

FIG. 2A is a schematic cross-sectional view of a touch display panelaccording to a first embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 2B is a schematic top view showing a touch device.

FIG. 3 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a touch display panelaccording to a second embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 4A is a schematic cross-sectional view of a touch display panelaccording to a third embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 4B is a schematic top view showing a touch device in FIG. 4A.

FIG. 5A illustrates a schematic cross-sectional view of a touch displaypanel according to a fourth embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 5B is a schematic top view depicting a touch device shown in FIG.5A.

FIG. 6A illustrates a schematic cross-sectional view of a touch displaypanel according to a fifth embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 6B is a schematic top view of a pixel electrode of the touchdisplay panel shown in FIG. 6A.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

FIGS. 1A and 1B illustrate schematic top views of two touch displaypanels of the invention. Referring to FIGS. 1A and 1B simultaneously,the touch display panel 100A and the touch display panel 100Brespectively has a display area I and an operation area II. The displayarea I is located adjacent to the operation area II. The touch displaypanel 100A and the touch display panel 100B are both display panelshaving touch operation function. The difference between the touchdisplay panel 100A and the touch display panel 100B is that the surfaceof the touch display panel 100B is printed with a plurality of icons102, so that the user can readily click on the icon 102 to execute thedesired function.

The touch display panel 100A and the touch display panel 100B includetouch device (not shown) and display device (not shown) to provide bothfunctions of touch operation and image display. In the presentembodiment, the display device (not shown) is disposed in the displayarea I and the touch device (not shown) is disposed in the operationarea II. In order to save fabrication process, the touch device (notshown) can be fabricated without additional process of touch device toprovide both functions of image display and touch operation.

In order to illustrate this concept, the following embodiments areprovided to describe relationships between the touch device (not shown)and the display device (not shown). It should be noted that featuresdepicted in the following embodiments are applicable in the touchdisplay panel 100A and the touch display panel 100B. However, the designof the touch display panel 100A and the touch display panel 100B is notlimited thereto.

FIG. 2A is a schematic cross-sectional view of a touch display panelaccording to a first embodiment of the invention. Referring to FIG. 2A,a touch display panel 200 includes a display area I for displaying animage and an operation area II for performing a touch operation. Thetouch display panel 200 includes a first substrate 210, a secondsubstrate 220, a display medium 230, a first transparent electrode layer240, a second transparent electrode layer 250, a dielectric layer 260,an active array device 270, and a sealant 280.

The second substrate 220 and the first substrate 210 are disposedopposite to each other. The display medium 230 is sandwiched between thefirst substrate 210 and the second substrate 220. The active arraydevice 270 is disposed on the second substrate 220. The firsttransparent electrode layer 240 is disposed on the first substrate 210.Moreover, the dielectric layer 260 is disposed on the first transparentelectrode layer 240. The second transparent electrode layer 250 isdisposed on the dielectric layer 260. The sealant 280 is disposedbetween the first substrate 210 and the second substrate 220 and locatedat a boundary between the display area I and the operation area II.

Additionally, in order to present colorful display effect, thedielectric layer 260 can be a color filter layer. In other embodiments,the dielectric layer 260 is a transparent dielectric layer, and thecolor filter layer is disposed between the first substrate 210 and thefirst transparent electrode 240 or integrated in the active array device270. In the present embodiment, the active array device 270 includes aplurality of active devices (not shown) arranged in an array and aplurality of pixel electrodes (not shown) electrically connectedthereto. Further, the display medium 230 is liquid crystal material ofvertical alignment type.

Notably, when the display medium 230 is liquid crystal material ofvertical alignment type, the first transparent electrode layer 240 andthe second transparent electrode layer 250 adopt the design of adouble-layered common electrode to provide the wide-viewing angleeffect.

In details, in the present embodiment, the first transparent electrodelayer 240 located in the display area I is defined as a first displayarea pattern 242, and the second transparent electrode layer 250 locatedin the display area I is defined as a second display area pattern 252.The first display area pattern 242 is deemed as a first common electrodeand the second display area pattern 252 is deemed as a second commonelectrode. The second display area pattern 252 has a plurality ofopenings C1 for exposing a portion of the first display area pattern242. The first display area pattern 242 also has a plurality ofsub-openings C2, where the sub-openings C2 are smaller than the openingsC1 so as to be exposed by the openings C1. Accordingly, an electricfield formed between the pixel electrodes (not shown) and the firstdisplay area pattern 242 is different from that formed between the pixelelectrodes (not shown) and the second display area pattern 252 when thetouch display panel 200 is operated. Therefore, the display medium 230adopts a multi-domain vertical alignment arrangement to represent awide-viewing angle display effect.

Since two transparent electrode layers are disposed on the firstsubstrate 210 of the touch display panel 200 and conventional touchdevices are mostly constituted by the two-layered electrode layer, thefirst transparent electrode layer 240 and the second transparentelectrode layer 250 are not only used for fabricating the commonelectrode for display, but also fabricating the touch device. Hence, thefirst transparent electrode layer 240 located in the operation area IIis defined as a first operation area pattern 244, and the secondtransparent electrode layer 250 located in the operation area II isdefined as a second operation area pattern 254.

The first operation area pattern 244 and the second operation areapattern 254 constitute the touch device in the present embodiment. Thetouch device can be disposed in an arrangement in FIG. 2B illustrating aschematic top view of a touch device. Referring to FIGS. 2A and 2Bsimultaneously, the first operation area pattern 244 includes aplurality of first touch electrode stripes S1 parallel to one another.The second operation area pattern 254 includes a plurality of secondtouch electrode stripes S2 parallel to one another. An extendingdirection of each first touch electrode stripe S1 and an extendingdirection of each second touch electrode stripe S2 intersect with eachother.

It should be noted that the first display area pattern 242 and the firstoperation area pattern 244 are fabricated from the first transparentelectrode layer 240. Similarly, the second display area pattern 252 andthe second operation area pattern 254 are fabricated from the secondtransparent electrode layer 250. Thus, the display device and the touchdevice can be fabricated simultaneously without additional fabricationsteps to simplify the manufacturing process.

In the first embodiment shown in FIG. 2, an edge of the second substrate220 is aligned with an edge of the display area I. However, the touchdisplay panel 300 of a second embodiment shown in FIG. 3 is has a largersecond substrate 320 than the second substrate 220 of the firstembodiment and has a display area I and an operation area II. In otherwords, the second substrate 320 can be substantially as large as thefirst substrate 210. It should be noted that in the design of the touchdisplay panel 300, other than a dimension of the second substrate 320,the remaining devices are all identical to those in the touch displaypanel 200, so there is no more detailed description for the same devicesherein.

FIG. 4A shows a schematic cross-sectional view of a touch display panelaccording to a third embodiment of the invention, and FIG. 4B is aschematic top view of a touch device shown in FIG. 4A. Referring toFIGS. 4A and 4B simultaneously, a touch display panel 400 has a displayarea I and an operation area II located beside the display area I. Thetouch display panel 400 includes a first substrate 210, a secondsubstrate 320, a display medium 230, a first transparent electrode layer440, a second transparent electrode layer 450, a dielectric layer 260,and an active array device 270. The touch display panel 400 is differentfrom the foregoing embodiments mainly in the pattern design of the firsttransparent electrode layer 440 and the second transparent electrodelayer 450.

In details, the first transparent electrode layer 440 includes a firstdisplay area pattern 242 located in the display area I and a firstoperation area pattern 444 located in the operation area II. The secondtransparent electrode layer 450 includes a second display area pattern252 located in the display area I and a second operation area pattern454 located in the operation area II. Referring to FIGS. 4A and 4Bsimultaneously, the first operation area pattern 444 has a plurality offirst sensing series SS1 parallel to one another and the secondoperation area pattern 454 has a plurality of second sensing series SS2parallel to one another, wherein an extending direction of the firstsensing series SS1 and an extending direction of the second sensingseries SS2 intersect with each other.

In addition, each first sensing series SS1 includes a plurality of firstsensing pads P1 and a plurality of first connecting portions W1 seriallyconnecting the first sensing pads P1. Similarly, each second sensingseries SS2 includes a plurality of second sensing pads P2 and aplurality of second connecting portions W2 serially connecting thesecond sensing pads P2. Furthermore, the dielectric layer 260 is locatedbetween the first connecting portions W1 and the corresponding secondconnecting portions W2 in the operation area II to prevent short circuitbetween the first sensing series SS1 and the second sensing series SS2.

Notably, when the dielectric layer 260 is a color filter layer, thedielectric layer 260 can be constituted by a plurality of color filterpatterns and a black matrix made of chromium and the like. Therefore, inorder to increase the signal transmission efficiency of the touchdevice, the chromium black matrix can be placed at the first connectingportions W1 or at the second connecting portions W2, and the colorfilter patterns or non-conductive materials are further disposed betweenthe first connecting portion W1 and the corresponding second connectingportion W2.

The first sensing pads P1 and the second sensing pads P2 are formed fromthe first transparent electrode layer 440 and the second transparentelectrode layer 450 respectively. Nevertheless, the dielectric layer 260exposes a portion of the first substrate 210 in the operation area II,so that the first sensing pads P1 are co-planar with the second sensingpads P2.

FIG. 5A shows a schematic cross-sectional view of a touch display panelaccording to a fourth embodiment of the invention, and FIG. 5B is aschematic top view of a touch device shown in FIG. 5A. Referring toFIGS. 5A and 5B simultaneously, a touch display panel 500 also has adisplay area I and an operation area II located beside the display areaI. The touch display panel 500 and the touch display panel 400 aremainly different in the design of the sensing series, so there is nomore detailed description for the same devices herein.

In the present embodiment, a first operation area pattern 544 of a firsttransparent electrode layer 540 includes a plurality of first sensingpads P3, a plurality of second sensing pads P4, and a plurality of firstconnecting portions W3. The first sensing pads P3 and the second sensingpads P4 are arranged in a cross arrangement, and the first connectingportions W3 are configured for serially connecting the first sensingpads P3 to constitute a plurality of first sensing series SS3. A secondoperation area pattern 554 of a second transparent electrode layer 550includes a plurality of second connecting portions W4. The secondconnecting portions W4 are configured for serially connecting the secondsensing pads P4 to constitute a plurality of second sensing series SS4,wherein the dielectric layer 260 is located between the first connectionportions W3 and the second connecting portions W4.

The sensing pads P3 and P4 are constituted by the first transparentconductive layer 540, and the second connecting portions W4 areconstituted by the second transparent conductive layer 550. The sensingpads P3 and P4 can be fabricated in the same fabrication step byadopting this design. Thus, the precise position between the sensingpads P3 and P4 can be obtained by fabricating the sensing pads P3 and P4in the same step such that excellent touch sensing sensitivity ismaintained.

Besides, the display device can be another embodiment. FIG. 6Aillustrates a schematic cross-sectional view of a touch display panelaccording to a fifth embodiment of the invention. Referring to FIG. 6A,a touch display panel 600 with a display area I and an operation area IIhas a first substrate 210, a second substrate 320, a display medium 230,a first transparent electrode layer 640, a second transparent electrodelayer 650, a dielectric layer 660, and an active array device 670.

The touch display panel 600 further includes a color filter layer 690disposed between the first substrate 210 and a first display areapattern 642. In other words, other than the dielectric layer 660, thecolor filter layer 690 can be further disposed to represent colorfuldisplay quality. The color filter layer 690 is constituted by aplurality of color filter patterns 692 and a black matrix 694.

Similar to the embodiments aforementioned, two transparent electrodelayers are disposed on the first substrate 210 in the presentembodiment. The first transparent electrode layer 640 includes a firstdisplay area pattern 642 and a first operation area pattern 644. Thesecond transparent electrode layer 650 includes a second display areapattern 652 and a second operation area pattern 654. It should be notedthat the first operation area pattern 642 in the operation area II issubstantially identical to the first operation area pattern 242 in thefirst embodiment, and the second operation area pattern 652 is alsosubstantially identical to the second operation area pattern 252. Inother words, the present embodiment and the first embodiment aredifferent mainly in the devices in the display area I.

Specifically, FIG. 6B illustrates a schematic top view of a pixelelectrode of the touch display panel shown in FIG. 6A. Referring to FIG.6A and FIG. 6B simultaneously, the first display area pattern 642 issubstantially a complete common electrode and the second display areapattern 652 is a plurality of pixel electrodes PE with openings C toexpose the common electrode (that is, the first display area pattern642). In addition, the active array device 670 includes a plurality ofactive devices TFT (only one is shown in the figure for illustration)arranged in an array, and each active device TFT is electricallyconnected to one of the pixel electrodes PE.

The touch display panel 600 further includes a plurality of conductors680 for the electrical connection between the active devices TFT and thepixel electrodes PE, wherein the conductors 680 are disposed between thefirst substrate 210 and the second substrate 220. Additionally, theconductors 680 are conductive spacers constituted by pillar-shapedspacers covered by a conductive layer. Alternatively, the conductivespacers are other conductive spacers adopted in the field.

When the touch display panel 600 displays, a common voltage is inputtedinto the first display area pattern 642 and the active device TFT inputsa display voltage into the pixel electrode PE, wherein the commonvoltage is different from the display voltage. The openings C in thepixel electrode PE expose the first display area pattern 642 to providean electric field such that the display medium 230 is affected by theelectric field in a specific arrangement.

In other words, the touch display panel 600 is a fringe field switch(FFS) display panel. One of the features thereof is that the pixelelectrode PE and the common electrode (the first display area pattern642) are disposed on the same substrate (the first substrate 210). Sincetwo transparent electrode layers are originally fabricated on the firstsubstrate 210, the touch device can be disposed in the operation area IIby using these transparent electrode layers. In other words, the touchdisplay panel of the present embodiment includes functions of touchoperation and image display without additional fabrication steps.

Obviously, the touch device in the operation area II can also be thesensing series aforementioned in the foregoing embodiments. That is, thedevices in the display area I of the present embodiment can also beapplied in the displays with the touch panels illustrated in the thirdembodiment and the fourth embodiment.

In summary, in the touch display panel of the invention, two transparentelectrode layers are disposed on one substrate. Thus, the touch devicecan be constituted simply by extending the two original transparentelectrode layers outside of the display area. In other words, thedisplay panel has the functions of touch operation and image displaywithout adding any fabrication step. Hence, the design concept of theinvention facilitates in simplifying the fabrication of display paneland increasing functions of display panel.

Although the invention has been described with reference to the aboveembodiments, it will be apparent to one of the ordinary skill in the artthat modifications to the described embodiment may be made withoutdeparting from the spirit of the invention. Accordingly, the scope ofthe invention will be defined by the attached claims not by the abovedetailed descriptions.

1. A touch display panel, having a display area and an operation arealocated beside the display area, the touch display panel comprising: afirst substrate; a second substrate, disposed opposite to the firstsubstrate; a display medium, disposed in the display area and sandwichedbetween the first substrate and the second substrate; a firsttransparent electrode layer, disposed on the first substrate andcomprising a first display area pattern located in the display area anda first operation area pattern located in the operation area; adielectric layer, disposed on the first transparent electrode layer; asecond transparent electrode layer, disposed on the dielectric layer andcomprising a second display area pattern located in the display area anda second operation area pattern located in the operation area; and anactive array device, disposed on the second substrate.
 2. The touchdisplay panel as claimed in claim 1, wherein the dielectric layer is acolor filter layer.
 3. The touch display panel as claimed in claim 1,wherein the first operation area pattern comprises a plurality of firsttouch electrode stripes parallel to one another, and the secondoperation area pattern comprises a plurality of second touch electrodestripes parallel to one another, wherein an extending direction of eachfirst touch electrode stripe and an extending direction of each secondtouch electrode stripe intersect each other.
 4. The touch display panelas claimed in claim 1, wherein the first operation area patterncomprises a plurality of first sensing series parallel to one another,and the second operation area pattern comprises a plurality of secondsensing series parallel to one another, wherein an extending directionof each first sensing series and an extending direction of each secondsensing series intersect each other.
 5. The touch display panel asclaimed in claim 4, wherein each first sensing series comprises aplurality of first sensing pads and a plurality of first connectingportions serially connected to the first sensing pads; and each secondsensing series comprises a plurality of second sensing pads and aplurality of second connecting portions serially connected to the secondsensing pads.
 6. The touch display panel as claimed in claim 5, whereinthe first dielectric layer is sandwiched between the first connectingportions and the corresponding second connecting portions.
 7. The touchdisplay panel as claimed in claim 5, wherein the first sensing pads areco-planar with the second sensing pads.
 8. The touch display panel asclaimed in claim 1, wherein the first operation area pattern comprises aplurality of first sensing pads, a plurality of second sensing pads anda plurality of first connecting portions, wherein the first sensing padsand the second sensing pads are arranged in a cross arrangement, and thefirst connecting portions are serially connected to the first sensingpads to constitute the first sensing series parallel to one another; andthe second operation area pattern comprises a plurality of secondconnecting portions serially connected to the second sensing pads toconstitute the second sensing series parallel to one another, whereinthe dielectric layer is disposed between the first connecting portionsand the second connecting portions.
 9. The touch display panel asclaimed in claim 1, wherein the first display area pattern is a firstcommon electrode having a plurality of sub-openings, and the seconddisplay area pattern is a second common electrode having the openings,wherein the sub-openings are smaller than the openings and are exposedby the openings.
 10. The touch display panel as claimed in claim 1,wherein the first display area pattern is a complete common electrode,and the second display area pattern comprises a plurality of pixelelectrodes, wherein the pixel electrodes has openings for exposing thecommon electrode.
 11. The touch display panel as claimed in claim 10,wherein the active array device comprises a plurality of active devicesarranged in an array and electrically connected to the pixel electrodes.12. The touch display panel as claimed in claim 11, further comprising acolor filter layer disposed between the first display area pattern andthe first substrate.